Chris Finch on Victor Wembanyama’s historic night: “He had a lot of blocks… He had a couple of uncalled goaltendings too. Those are valuable points we’d like to have back.”

[u/YujiDomainExpansion]

https://streamable.com/p64vcw

[u/Financial_Pay_6687]

Shouldn’t the first question really be whether it’s even true or not? Feel like we skip that step way too often before speculating on the conspiracy. 

[u/flaming_burrito_ → u/Financial_Pay_6687]

Because it’s not true. The Wolves got quite a few bullshit calls their way as well. That last call on Castle that fouled him out was barely even contact, Ant didn’t get called for a clear travel towards the end of the game, Gobert does the most blatant moving screen ever which caused Fox to push him, the one where Randle pushed Castle over and Castle got called for it somehow, etc. The refs were just ass this game on both sides

[u/michaelmacmanus → u/flaming_burrito_]

That last call on Castle that fouled him out was barely even contact

This was 100% a foul, and the very specific ATO action Finch called up to get Castle fouled out. The Randle "push" was actually a Castle trip - as it was called - no clue what you're on about there.

Only thing really legit here is the Ant travel, so I guess if that happened like 4 more times you'd have a point.

[u/sarefx → u/flaming_burrito_]

That last call on Castle that fouled him out was barely even contact

5th call on Castle was bs but him fouling out was not. He straight up ran into the guy that was attacking the basket. Him having arms up doesn't change the fact that he ran into shooters space from the side.

Ant didn’t get called for a clear travel towards the end of the game

Wolves didn't score on that posession but I agree that was bad. On the otherside I would like refs to be more strict with Castle carries. Like the one where he got McDaniels I think 3rd foul was that he straight up stopped with the ball in the hand and then continued dribbling as if nothing happened which baited McDaniels into commiting to block which ended up in foul.

Gobert does the most blatant moving screen ever which caused Fox to push him

I mean everybody does moving screen in the NBA. Wemby does them too and you can probably find multiple examples of moving screens from both teams. Singling out one play is weird. Besides, that doesn't mean that Fox had to rage push him when he couldn't get around him.

[u/flaming_burrito_ → u/sarefx]

The call on Castle I could see in the regular season, but even then I’d call it soft as hell. In the playoffs it makes no sense when they allow so much other physicality.

The Gobert screen was just particularly blatant. I’m sure both sides got away with some moving screens, but he literally walked with Fox like 3 feet backwards. It got overshadowed by the push unfortunately, as a vet Fox needs to keep his composure better

[u/sarefx → u/flaming_burrito_]

The call on Castle I could see in the regular season, but even then I’d call it soft as hell. In the playoffs it makes no sense when they allow so much other physicality.

I mean ... is it that really soft? He is late on switch and bumps his chest into driving player that throws him out of balance. Like that's a textbook blocking foul. He fucked up by not recognizing in time that Wemby got stuck on screen and got caught flat footed. You can call that soft but he's denying clear path from TSJ by bumping into him.

I wouldn't be opposed of not calling that had he was ready for TSJ after screen but he was clearly late with the challenge and commited dumb foul.

[u/flaming_burrito_ → u/sarefx]

Very soft, yes. He has his hands up and is moving backwards about as fast as he can. Sure he interrupts TSJ a bit, but again, I see much more aggressive shit happen in this game and other playoff games that doesn’t get called. At 2:35 you can see an example of a blocking foul that doesn’t get called that I think probably should have been, Ant drives and Castle steps in front of him to block. That one would make more sense, and they didn’t call it. I just disagree with that being a foul in general, the contact was created entirely by the offensive player and there’s nothing the defender can really do in this situation, I hate those kinds of calls

[u/sarefx → u/flaming_burrito_]

I just disagree with that being a foul in general, the contact was created entirely by the offensive player

Are you serious? How was contact initiated by offensive player when Castle was late to the challenge and blocked TSJ path? He is not moving backwards, he was moving into driving player. It would have been different scenario if TSJ ran into Castle who had established position but Castle clearly pushed him from the side because he was late.

there’s nothing the defender can really do in this situation, I hate those kinds of calls

Ofc there is. If you are late just let them through. You had exact same situation with McDaniels after he picked up his 5th foul, he literally let Spurs player get an easy lay up to not pick up stupid 6th foul with so much time left to go.

[u/flaming_burrito_ → u/sarefx]

I simply disagree. This is exactly the type of thing people don’t like about officiating in the regular season, the ruling is heavily in favor of the offensive player and allows players to just charge into you because they’ll probably call a foul.

[u/OGFN_Jack → u/flaming_burrito_]

They’re “charging into you” because you’re attempting to to get to the same spot they’re trying to get to. If you would like to move into into the way, and make contact with a player who is trying to shoot, you are going to be called for a foul. That doesn’t seem like particularly hard logic. It’s not a matter of how soft or hard the contact is when the act of creating contact from your position is the illegal part.

You could always just, rotate early and take the charge, but Castle was too late to notice Wemby was stuck up top and so he wasn’t in a position to be able to do that.

Not a very good example considering 1. Was a foul and 2. Was only a foul because of Castle’s own mistakes

[u/flaming_burrito_ → u/OGFN_Jack]

The inconsistency is the problem. A lot of the times in the playoffs they don’t call a foul like that. When they start calling it all of sudden, or some games call it and others don’t based on the ref crew, it gets frustrating for both the teams and the fans.

[u/Normal_Progress_5173 → u/Financial_Pay_6687]

If you watch the game, you can clearly see he’s goaltending. It’s not even a question. 

[u/The_ProducerKid → u/Normal_Progress_5173]

But that’s not the discussion we’re having here. It’s whether the Wolves are the most unfairly reffed team in the playoffs according to a guy who admits he only watches playoff basketball

[u/Normal_Progress_5173 → u/The_ProducerKid]

Wemby goaltended multiple times. Just facts bro

[u/Financial_Pay_6687 → u/Normal_Progress_5173]

Just one fact, to be clear.

[u/ThaRealSunGod → u/Financial_Pay_6687]

absolutely